By CHEROKEE ONE FEATHER EDITORIAL BOARD
Several incidents occurred during the Smoky Mountain Conference varsity girls basketball final between the Tsalagi Anata Anitsvyasdi (Cherokee Lady Braves) and the Hayesville Lady Yellow Jackets that are just not ok. During that game, played on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Hayesville High School, several Yellow Jackets fans, all adults, were photographed “flipping off” the Anata Anitsvyasdi as they lined up for their trophy presentation following their large win.
As you can imagine, a firestorm ensued. Clay County Schools Superintendent Melissa Godfrey and the Clay County Board of Education released a statement on their official school Facebook page on Tuesday, Feb. 25 in which they wrote, “Competitive sports can bring out strong emotions, and that’s exactly what we saw during the SMC Conference Tournament.”
Strong emotions…ok…well, there were some game incidents on the court…but, we’re talking about adults including a teacher within the Clay County system.
Their statement goes on to say, “We are aware of images that display some of our fans being inappropriate during Saturday night’s tournament game. This behavior does not reflect the values of our school system or community and we deeply regret this happened. This behavior will not be tolerated.”
But, Clay County, you are tolerating it aren’t you? What is being done about this? Have all of the adults involved received lifetime bans from attending sporting events involving children? That hasn’t happened.
And, let’s not forget that this sort of behavior has happened before at Hayesville.
An inflammatory Snapchat post was put online and started making the rounds like wildfire just prior to basketball games between Cherokee High School (CHS) and Hayesville High School (HHS) on the evening of Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020. The post, from a minor student at HHS stated (typed as it was in the post), “Student section theme for tonight’s game against the Cherokee Indians is Cowboys, bring your boots ya hats and ya horses and let’s scalp some Indians.”
Just for clarity, the Cherokee sports teams have the monikers of Anitsvyasdi (Braves) and Anata Anitsvyasdi (Lady Braves), not Indians. Year-over-year, the overwhelming majority of players for Cherokee are members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI).
In an apology letter to then-Cherokee High School Principal Dr. Debora Foerst, Jim Saltz, then-Hayesville High School principal wrote, “On behalf of the Hayesville High School (HHS) community, I would like to apologize for the inappropriate social media posts by a couple of our students and other situations that derived from them. We at HHS in no way will tolerate the content of the posts and the solicited actions.”
This latest event is so serious that EBCI Ugvwiyuhi (Principal Chief) Michell Hicks issued a statement. “What should have been a proud and joyous moment was instead tainted by blatant racism and hostility – behavior that should never be tolerated, especially from those expected to set a better example. The Clay County School administration has failed to address the issues in a fair manner, and we will not stand for it.”
He added, “This is not an isolated incident. Our varsity boys team has also faced similar discriminatory treatment in a prior game at Murphy, making it clear that this vitriol goes beyond a single game. This pattern of behavior is unacceptable, and we will not allow it to continue in the future.”
And, for Cherokee fans, it is most definitely, 100 percent, maybe 1,000 percent, not an isolated incident.
Following the Snapchat “let’s scalp some Indians” debacle, Dr. Foerst, who is the daughter of the late Ray Kinsland (Mr. Brave) and has been around Cherokee athletics her entire life, told the One Feather, “We have faced racist remarks, chants, signs, behavior, and more from schools all across North Carolina as long as I can remember and farther back than that. My dad told many stories about his experiences with our student-athletes over his 60 years volunteering with Cherokee High School, from not being allowed to eat in the dining room of restaurants to having trash thrown on them as they left the field. We have sat through student sections of opposing schools do fake war whoops, run-through banners with ‘The Trail of Tears ends here’, and fans spitting on our players. We were told it was all in good fun, we shouldn’t be so sensitive, or it is just the students trying to encourage their teams.”
So, what’s the solution? That’s a good question.
First off, we feel that Hayesville should not be allowed to host sporting events for a year. Following that year-long ban, they should be on a probationary period for six months to a year where they can host but an extra NCHSAA (North Carolina High School Athletic Association) referee is employed for those games to serve as a fan monitor of sorts. It sounds ridiculous, but this entire situation is ridiculous.
In the end, who knows what will be done? But, it must be something this time or it will continue to happen again and again and again. Too many Cherokee student-athletes, current and former, have stories about being abused, and that’s incredibly sad.
In short, do better.
